Appliance Recycling Centers of America Inc.'s founder, Jack Cameron, is back at the helm of the company.
The St. Louis Park company held its annual meeting on Monday, and shareholders elected four new members to the five-member board of directors. The newly installed board then promptly removed President and CEO Mark Eisenschenk and hired Cameron, 75, who was still chairman of the board.
Cameron founded Appliance Recycling in 1976 and served as its president and CEO until August 2014, when he retired.
The new directors — Richard Butler, Brian Conners, Dennis Gao and Tony Isaac — were nominees of Isaac Capital Group, a private investment firm in San Diego and the largest shareholder of Appliance Recycling, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Friday.
"It makes sense to us [to] ensure that the company continues to be run by the man who founded it and kept it profitable for nearly 40 years, with the support of an experienced and qualified board," said Jon Isaac, managing member of Isaac Capital Group, in a statement.
The Isaac Capital Group in December disclosed that it had acquired more than 5 percent of Appliance Recycling shares. It now owns 12 percent of the company's shares. The group in February started to press the company for changes.
Appliance Recycling rebuffed the Isaac Group's bid for board representation but in the end the previous directors at Appliance Recycling — Steve Lowenthal, Randy Pearce and Dean Pickerell — decided not to run against the new nominees.
Appliance Recycling sells appliances through its ApplianceSmart retail division and recycles major household appliances.
Patrick Kennedy • 612-673-7926
